Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett became acting secretary of the department when Gale Norton, the first woman to head Interior, departed Friday following five years with the Bush administration.

Scarlett will remain acting head of Interior until the Senate confirms Norton’s successor. President Bush last month tapped Idaho Gov. Kirk Kempthorne, a former senator with close ties to Capitol Hill, to be the next secretary (see Daily GPI, March 20). It’s unclear how long Scarlett will be in charge of the department, but it could be for some time.

For starters, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over Interior nominations, has not yet received the file on Kempthorne, which typically includes responses to committee questions, financial disclosure statements and recent speeches, said Bill Wicker, a spokesman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the energy panel. The committee does not schedule a confirmation hearing until it obtains the requisite documents and information.

Moreover, the Senate has only one week left to conduct legislative business before it departs for a two-week Easter recess. Congress is not expected to return until the week of April 24. Wicker noted, however, that Senate energy committee staff will work throughout the recess period, and it could schedule a confirmation hearing for Kempthorne in late April if it receives the file on him.

Kempthorne’s nomination is expected to clear the Senate energy committee without any problem. But once reported out, Sen Bill Nelson (D-FL) has vowed to place a hold on the nomination, saying that he is concerned that Kempthorne shares the Bush administration’s “friendly view” of the oil and natural gas industry. A hold by Nelson could tie up Kempthorne’s nomination in the Senate.

But supporters of Kempthorne say there are enough votes in the Senate (60 votes) to override Nelson’s filibuster and confirm Kempthorne as the 49th secretary of the Interior Department.

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